Cal muttered something into his POD then fiddled with some wires and clicked his mouse once. Suddenly he was holding four pieces of paper. He looked deep into Zora’s eyes for a second then Cal left to talk to Gordon, Joe and Jake. Just then Alex, Scout, Richard and the rest of his men mounted the top of the hill. Cal saw Richard arrive and walked over to talk to him.

After Cal had finished he found a spot on the hill where he could see everybody and started talking to them. After a second he realized that nobody could hear him over the chatter everyone was making and stopped.

Joe looked in Cal’s direction during a pause in his conversation with Jake and saw Cal’s predicament. He cupped his hands around his mouth and, in a deep voice, bellowed, “EVERYBODY QUIET!” Then when everyone looked at him somewhat shocked he said more quietly, “Cal’s trying to say something.” He motioned an arm toward Cal and everyone looked that direction.

“Thank you.” Cal began, “Now, I have given each Joe, Gordon, Richard and myself a sheet of paper, on it the bases of my battle plan. In case you forget what I tell you. I have sectioned us into two groups. One that will stay on the hill and one that will enter the main building. We’ll call it the castle.” He then went on to explain, “Gordon’s group consists of twenty men and Richard’s group has thirty-two.” Cal addressed Gordon, “You’re people can bring one person with you at a time, correct?” Gordon nodded. “Alright, Gordon’s men will grab onto fourteen of Richard’s men, Zora, Lara, Alex, Scout, Dilton and I. We’ll be going straight into the castle.” He then pointed to the others as he mentioned them, “Joe, Jake, Richard and the rest of your men will stay as back up. We’ll need you guys in case something goes wrong.”

At this Joe turned to Lara and Jake and said, “See, what’d I tell ya? Not even part of the fight.”

Cal then walked over to Gordon and pulled out the rolled up piece of paper that Gordon had given them. “On here there are blueprints of the castle.” He then proceeded to explain where he wanted each person to appear. “Once you’ve brought us there get back to the hill.”

“You know, staying back won’t be too bad, eh? I mean sure we’ll be missin’ out on the action, but- ” Jake was talking to Joe but stopped because Joe was no longer listening.

Joe’s knees gave out on him and he fell to the ground hard. He could hear himself scream but his voice seemed detached and distant. Scenes of disaster and torment sped through his mind. His body ached as terror flushed through his body.

“Joe? Joe?”

He finally opened his eyes to see Lara crouched down beside him holding his shoulder and desperately calling his name. He lowered his hands which he realized had been clutching the side of his head.

“You ok, man?” Jake asked looking down at his buddy.

Joe stood up, ignoring Jakes question. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow and blinked away the tears in his eyes. His hands were shaking as he said, “Cal, we need to move out now.”

Cal grabbed the blueprint, rolled it up and stuffed it away. “Alright, men, you know what to do! Let’s go!” Cal yelled to the group.

Each stout man in Gordon’s army paired up with a tall, confident member of Richard’s army. They grabbed hands then popped out of sight. Soon there was only six Xonars, six of Gordon’s men and the group that was staying behind left.

“One last thing, guys,” Dilton said standing up from his previous sitting position. “You can use your PODs as communicators now.”

Sure enough when they looked at their wrists they saw a new, blue button on the device attached to them.

“Guys, you really need to get going!” Joe stated impatiently.

Gordon’s men grabbed six of the Xonars and disappeared.

Joe saw Cal say a short prayer before he was gone. Just in case there was a God Joe looked up and muttered a prayer of his own. “Please, God, let us survive.”